Coniston Launch - the launches

We operate traditional timber boats that carry up to 54 people either in the comfortable sheltered saloons or on the open forward deck. The picture on the right shows M.L. Ruskin (left) and M.L. Ransome on Coniston Water with 'Coniston Old Man', the mountain, in the background. Both boats date from the early 1920's and we consider it both a pleasure and a responsibility to keep these craft in good order - they would not be built today, in this age of glass-fibre and steel. At the same time we have installed solar panels and electric motors - the best of the old with the best of the new!

M.L. Ruskin

The Motor Launch Ruskin was built in 1922 of mahogany planks on oak frame, to dimensions of 40ft x 9ft 6ins x 3ft. Her first engine was probably a single cylinder Thorneycroft. By the mid 1960s she was powered by a 2.5l BMC diesel, then in 1996 this was replaced by a 4 cylinder Perkins diesel. She is now fitted with an STI 74 electric motor. She was built by the Chester Boat Company and spent her early working life on the Dee at Chester. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and set to work on minesweeping duties off the Dee estuary. Later she was used for Air/Sea rescue before being returned to civilian duties in 1946. She was originally called Raglan II but was known as HMS Ariel (after her shore base) during the war. We renamed her again when we brought her to Coniston Water to start our business in 1992.

M.L. Ransome

Although the same overall length as Ruskin, this launch has a greater displacement, her dimensions being 40ft x 11ft 3ins x 2ft 9ins. She was built from pitch pine on oak at Portsmouth, probably as a dual purpose boat carrying passengers only in the summer months. She too was requisitioned by the Admiralty serving as a harbour launch first at Portsmouth and then all along the South Coast ports ending up on the Thames by the conclusion of hostilities. In the early 1950's, she underwent a refit at Windsor and it was probably at that stage that she was fitted with a 3.2l BMC 'Captain' diesel engine. This was replaced in 1995 by a 56 HP Ford diesel. She is now powered by an STI 74 electric motor. At Windsor she was operated by French Bros until the family split up in the 1970s and she was transferred with J&G French to Shepperton. She was originally called The Empress, then Monarch I, and we renamed her when we brought her to Coniston Water in 1994.

real-time boat positions

To see the actual current position of each launch, please see the Coniston Launch section of the EnviroBoat site.

maintenance

These are traditional wooden boats that we take great pride in maintaining. They each have to be taken out of the water every winter and stripped down for repair to planks or ribs, re-caulking, and of course repainting. Apart from the skills of our own crew, we can also call on a number of contractors who retain the necessary boatbuilding and mechanical skills to keep our two boats in really first class order. Each boat is inspected twice each year by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), whose surveyors do a structural survey of them out of the water - and then come back and check out the operational equipment (including lifesaving equipment) once the boat is ready for service.